Monday, March 06, 2006

Latas Gets A Mention

CD 8 candidate Jeff Latas is mentioned in an Adam Nagourney article today’s NY Times. The Nagourney piece is titled, “For Democrats, Many Verses, But No Chorus.” He quotes a different issue named by each of four Democrats:

“At the Capitol in Hartford the other morning, State Senator Christopher Murphy denounced the "disastrous prescription drug benefit bill" embraced by his Republican opponent, Representative Nancy L. Johnson.

“Jeff Latas, a Democratic candidate in an Arizona race, is talking about the nation's dangerous reliance on oil imports from the Middle East. Ed Perlmutter, a Colorado Democrat, says he is running against "the arrogance and cronyism" displayed by Washington Republicans.

“And in New Mexico, Patricia Madrid, the state attorney general, is urging the United States to set a timetable for quitting Iraq.”

From the fact of these four different themes he argues that there is no “over arching theme” that will play well in every state.

Here in CD 8 Latas and the other Democratic challengers mention all these issues as well as problems along the border. Amongst them, then, there is considerable agreement about what is important to voters in the district.

So now a question: Should there be an “over arching theme?” Do we need something like a new vision-statement for America, and if so what should it be?

(Short Houskeeping Note: New post up at The Data Port/Motorcycles)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the second time Latas has been in the NY Times. Last time was about two weeks ago. A piece about the vet group he is in. That was a Sunday issue, I think that one is one Latas’ web site.

I also got the word that this latest article was front page above the fold. Now if the local rags will start to work on covering the issues and the candidates that can best articulate solutions to these most challenging problems.

Anonymous said...

Don't know why you seem to be attacking me, I was only pointing out some facts here. The media could do a much better job covering this race. After all there have been three forum now and the Douglas Dispatch is the only one that had a very small article about the last one. The attention will soon overwhelm our local papers and they should try and get ahead of the bow wave approaching.

I dare say though, the locals have put there attention on one or two individuals and have also seemed to slant their somewhat biased opinions. However, I think the limited coverage has been a little more inclusive recently, but only recently.

Nationally, Latas has gotten more attention. Why? Maybe he has articulated the issues better and the nationals have taken notice.

No egg, no chicken. I'd say an acorn. You know they do grow to be very strong trees.

Art Jacobson said...

Don't know how much weight you can put on a one-sentence mention, especially when it is used as part of an argument that something is lacking in the Democratic message.

Still, I suppose there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

"Anonymous" said, "Don't know why you seem to be attacking me," well, maybe you're not the anonymous you were thought to be, since there may more than one...although I grant the context.

So here's a solution to worries about giving yourself away. Post as "anon" but consistently sign your post with the same nom de blog.

(Minor typo correction follows)

Of course, the alternative that would save you from erroneous attacks would be to ban anonymous blogging on this blog.

Sincerely yours,
Barbara Celerant

Anonymous said...

The news coverage is deplorable. Yes, it is way early but the CD 8 seat is one of the few competitive seats.

I'm sick of hearing the media repeating the Rovian/Republican mantra of (1) "the Democrats have no new ideas," (2) "the Democrats are just anti-Bush," (3) "the Democrats can't agree on anything." The Republicans believe that if they keep repeating this crap enough, that the public will perceive it as truth.

Gretchen

Art Jacobson said...

Blue in Az...

I suspect that the person primarily responsible is Salette Latas, who seems to have done an excellent job of marshalling the Latas supporters. There are 105 members in the Latas Yahoo group and they regularly receive e-mails urging letters to the editor on occasions when they feel Latas is not getting fair or adequate coverage.

An aggressive “under the radar” internet strategy is an excellent idea for a modestly funded grass roots campaign.

Anonymous said...

Salette Latas is diverse multi-tasker extraordinaire. [And a truly decent human being]